The Agricultural Policy Research Center (APRC) of the ISET Policy Institute has launched a new monthly analytical publication – the Agri Review. The goal of the publication is to summarize the major economic developments in the agricultural sector and provide a brief analysis of major economic indicators.

In February 2018, the Khachapuri Index continued its downward trend and dropped to 3.67 GEL. This is 1.2% lower compared to the previous month (January 2018) and 0.3% higher compared to February 2017 (y/y). The main contributors to y/y Khachapuri Index inflation were butter (4.1%), milk (1.7%), and cheese (0.7%), while the price of eggs and wheat dropped (-3.3% and -2.5%, respectively).

In January 2018, an IMF Working Paper published new results on the shadow economy situation for 158 countries from 1991 to 2015. According to Medina and Schneider (2018), the shadow economy in Georgia during that period constituted, on average, 64.9% of GDP – the highest indicator in the world! In 2015 (the last year available), things were slightly better for Georgia, with the share of the shadow economy standing at 53%.

Geostat has published its rapid estimate of real GDP growth for the fourth quarter of 2017. Estimated growth stands at 4.7%, which is only 0.1% higher than the value forecasted in the last update of our model.

In the present era of environmental and industrial change, maintaining biodiversity is essential. Doing so not only protects species and habitats, but also brings benefits for society in the form of resulting ecosystem services. In order to conserve biodiversity and fulfill the obligations defined by various international conventions and the Association Agreement (AA), the Georgian Ministry of Environment and Natural Resource Protection (MoENRP) initiated the Law on Biodiversity in 2015.